One of the biggest stories to come out of Game 2 of the 2022 NBA Finals revolved around comments made by former referee Steve Javie. At one point in the game, Green fouled a Jaylen Brown jumper and the two got tangled up in an incident that got reviewed, which led to Javie — who works as an analyst for ESPN — saying, “You have to consider one player has, definitely, a technical foul. Is this enough to call a double-T and eject the one player? Personally, I would say nothing and I would let it just defuse as that.”
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While plenty of basketball fans have long suspected this, hearing Javie be this explicit about how high the bar is for some players to get a second technical raised some eyebrows. And in an interview with Chris Haynes of Yahoo Sports, Boston Celtics forward Grant Williams expressed some frustration with the whole thing, saying that “as players, all we want to see is consistency.”
“If the refs are taking into consideration that a player — a key player — already has a technical and then they decide for whatever reason that a similar incident doesn’t warrant a second technical, that’s fine as long as there is consistency. The problem is there is no consistency,” Williams said. “As players, we just want to know how the game is going to be officiated and then we’ll adjust. I personally believe you have to understand the magnitude of the game and how an ejection can impact the game. No one wants to see the game impacted by an ejection. But either all techs are the same or you consider the situation when [contemplating] a second tech. We just want the rules to be enforced straight forward and consistently.”
Williams stressed that Green avoiding a second technical in that situation didn’t surprise the team, but despite that, “we just hope that grace is extended for everyone.” Green went on to play a game-high 35 minutes and made his presence felt on both ends of the court in Golden State’s 107-88 Game 2 win.
